Thermal imaging camera gives your smartphone night vision

Should you need to find your dog in the bushes, or for more paranoid moments spot a lurker in your garden at night, then it's thermal imaging technology you'll need. By observing and differentiating between the infrared radiation emitted from different objects, thermal imaging allows you to see in the dark, and even through walls, in a way that would be impossible for the naked eye.

Up until now this tech hasn't come cheap, but now a new breed of infrared cameras that can clip straight into your smartphone are changing that. One such camera, the Seek Thermal has just gone on sale in the UK for the first time. WIRED took a look at it at IFA in Berlin.

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Katie Collins

The Seek plugs into the power socket of your phone, and is remarkably discreet. While the module is small, it certainly seems robust enough, and is clad in a protective waterproof case. Fire up the app and you'll get a live thermal image on the screen of your smartphone. The detection range is -40 degrees celsius to 330 degrees celsius and it has a 20 degree to 36 degree field of view. It can identify heat sources as far as 2,000 feet away or as close as 8 inches.

The Seek doesn't have its own battery, relying instead on power from your phone. The benefit of this is that there are no extra wires required and it doesn't need to recharged between uses. The downside is that your phone battery will probably take a massive hit when it's in use. You probably won't need to use the Seek consistently for long periods, but that might be something worth keeping in mind.

There are a variety of reasons you might want to use a thermal imaging camera, which range from tasks around the home to situations like search and rescue. In day-to-day use, it can be useful for tracing water damage within ceilings and walls and identifying its source, for discovering energy efficiencies in the sealing around windows and doors or for discovering the location of clogs within pipes. It also might be a useful accessory for hunters, campers and sailors.

The Seek Camera has been out in the US for a while, but it's now available in the UK and several other European countries on Amazon for £260.